Pump Question

[Doug01]

Ok....

First of all I am VERY new to this saltwater tank thing. I just bought the tank, fully setup, from somebody that had to get rid of it. After setting the tank up I am having a problem getting the water flowing over the back of the tank into the back filter thing. From what I have seen it looks like a skimmer system. The water will move out of the tube connected to the pump, but I cannot get the water to move out of the tank and though the two tube that is in the little skimmer bucket thing that is connected to the tank. The two tubes do not actually hook to anything but when I dis-assembled the system to transport it, the tubes were flowing water I thought. At this point the water and everything is doing great and all readings are good. The only thing I need to get going now is to figure out how to get the water moving. I am attaching diagrams to show what I'm talking about. I can't get a picture of the back since it is by a wall. I'm trying to at least attach the pictures...it isn't working to well....

 

[dustybrannum]

ok, what i do is fill both the outside tank where they U tubes flow into and the inside tank where they get the water. Now there are three ways that i know of offf the top of my head to get the siphon going: you can push an air hose up into the tube and draw air out of it with your mouth, but this will leave air in the u tube, next is drill the top of the u tube and put a nipple that an air hos will fit on and draw the air out with your mouth, or the way i do it is i have end caps for my u tubes so i put them in the tank and fill them with water and put the caps on the put them in place and pull off the caps and as long as you do not raise either end above the water level then the siphon will start. This can be a little nerve racking and the further you put the caps onto the tubes the harder it is to get the first one off because you are pulling a vacuum. Good luck with these methods, hope this helps.

 

[jmc]

Do you have an overflow box - consisting of 1 in-tank box as drain, and one outside-tank box with prefilter and downpipe into wet/dry box? Kind of looks like that from your diagrams.

If so, not sure why you would have 2 tubes. Typically, there is one and you must create a siphon to get the water flowing to your overflow system. If this is what you think you have and not sure how to create the suction, post back and I'll describe...

 

[Doug01]

Here you can see the picture of the one pump that is pushing water out...it's the one on the right of the middle of the tank and you can see the skimmer cup over to the left that has the tubes that aren't pumping water....

any clues?

 

[Doug01]

Dusty- thanks for the info.... I will have to try this since it is driving me nuts trying to get that going.

JMC - I think that my system is exactly what you are talking about. You can see in the picture if you click on it and it should show you a little better picture.....

 

[jmc]

Indeed... do as Dusty has suggested to get siphon working.

 

[ellisz]

I used to just put a small piece of hose and start the siphon with my mouth. If you get the hose at the top of the U tube and suck real hard, you should be able to remove the air pocket.

 

[Doug01]

I appreciate all the help! I have to get it started to get my system running correctly!

I'll be back with more questions since I still have no idea what I'm doing!

Thanks!!!!

 

[Doug01]

That worked perfectly with the hose method.

Thanks again!